Dr. Robert Smith in the Augsburg Commentary on the
Bible has something remarkable to say regarding the Messiah's command in
Matthew 10:5-7. These are the Messiah's words to the apostles, "...beginning
with the astonishing statement that they must not go to Gentiles, and not to
Samaritans, but only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel...an astonishing
contradiction of the universalism of [Matthew] 28:19." This was a specific
command given to the twelve apostles, which had a narrower focus than the
general command given to others to preach to the whole world.

This command by the Messiah to his apostles reads as follows:
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way
of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is at hand."

This command of Yeshua the Messiah is often ignored from our modern pulpits, even though
a "double witness" exists in Matthew 15:24, in the conversation between
the Messiah
and a Canaanite woman. Here we read these key words again: "But he answered and
said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Dr. Robert
Smith seems exasperated at this while admitting that, "a natural and yet
astonishing conclusion is drawn from Jesus' argument."

This Biblical scholar refers to the apostles' preaching to the "lost sheep
of the house of Israel" as "astonishing" three times in a single volume of a
Lutheran Bible commentary. He seems at a complete loss to explain such a
statement by the Messiah that so decisively contradicts Lutheran (and most other
denominations) theology. One wonders whether he would prefer to declare these
enigmatic words fraudulent! This, however, would be a difficult thing to do
since Yeshua repeated this identical command in two different contexts.

There are several reasons why the Messiah's words baffle and
confuse the modern theologians. First, they have no concept of the true
meaning of the term, "the house of Israel." Modern scholarship insists that
this phrase is identical in meaning to the single word, "Israel." If that is the case, then why did
the Messiah append the
words, "house of" to his command? Many reason that perhaps this was just
poetic license or a flowery phraseology that added nothing to the meaning. It
never occurs to them that when the Messiah referred to "the house of Israel," he
really did mean the ten-tribe entity known by that name in Scripture. Other
names for them are "Ephraim" (Isaiah 9:9, Ezekiel 37:16, 19; Hosea 4:17; 5:5, 9, 11-14;
6:4; etc.) or the sons of Joseph (Genesis 46:27; Hebrews11:21, etc.).

Secondly, modern theologians are confused by the Messiah's words
because they do not consider the ten tribes of the house of Israel to ever have
been "lost." A great many writers today insist that the house of Israel was
never exiled by Assyria (other than a small handful of people), and
therefore they supposedly never went anywhere at all. Others say that the Bible
is correct that Israel was exiled (2 Kings 15:29; 17:6; 18:11), but that "they all
came back" a very short time later. Therefore, we are told that there are no exiled or lost tribes of Israel anywhere in the world.
Yet Yeshua referred to an Israel that was still "lost" in his day!

A third source of confusion then results. If Israel was never physically exiled and lost, then
the Messiah
could only have spoken of a lost Israel in a spiritual sense. If so, why
then did Yeshua refer solely and specifically to the ten-tribe "house of
Israel," when the two­tribe house of Judah was just as spiritually in need? This
would be a very obvious oversight on the Messiah's part!

A fourth confusion is caused by modern theologians'
assumption that the Messiah was speaking to all believers instead of giving a command
specific to the twelve apostles as the text clearly states. They assume that
the Messiah only wanted "Jews" to be offered salvation, although "the house of
Israel" was never Jewish.

The word "astonishing" is pregnant with meaning. It comes
from the Latin words "ex" = out, and "tonare" = to thunder. Webster's
dictionary defines it as "to stun, astound, bewilder, or overwhelm." An
interesting synonym given is "to render senseless." This certainly fits, since
the Messiah's words make no sense at all to the scholars, and renders their theories
senseless concerning Israel. Yet another synonym is "to amaze, to surprise
greatly, as with something unaccountable; to confound." True again, for
Yeshua's
statement concerning Israel goes against all of the popular teaching in our
pulpits.

Again Webster's offers a meaning for "astonish" as "sudden
emotion or passion." Is this why people get angry when you proclaim the truth
concerning "the lost sheep of the house of Israel"? Lastly, Webster gives the
meaning of "very wonderful." Yes! How very wonderful this truth about the lost
tribes is. One is reminded of Deuteronomy 28:37, "Thou [Israel] shalt become an
astonishment." Perhaps there is more to that verse than we have previously
considered?

We are often told that modern scholarship does not accept
our views concerning the lost tribes of the house of Israel. If so, perhaps we are in
good company, for neither do they accept the Messiah's view on that subject, as can
be seen by Dr. Smith's comments above. Yet there are some leading scholars who
do more than hint at the truth of what we teach.

Dr. Craig Keener, in his Commentary on Matthew, tells us:
"Jewish people often thought that ten of the twelve tribes were lost and would
be restored only in the end time." He then refers to the writings of two other
scholars, Jeremias and Sanders, who also believe this. What they are really
saying is that the two houses, Israel and Judah, would be reunited at the end of
this age. If so, the house of Israel must still be an entity separate and
distinct from Judah somewhere in our world today.

Author and professor Dr. Robert H. Gundry of California, in
his commentary on the gospel of Matthew, states: "The lostness of the
nine-and-a-half northern tribes, which was supposed in some quarters during the
New Testament era, may have sharpened the point of [the Messiah's] metaphor. The regathering of the lost sheep heralds the Messianic Age of salvation." Notice the important points he makes here.
The house of Israel was missing and considered "lost" during the New Testament
era, the time of Yeshua the Messiah. Furthermore, this scholar also believes that the house
of Israel will only be fully regathered at the dawn of the Millennium, or
Messianic Age. Since that is future, the regathering of the house of Israel
certainly did not take place 2,700 years ago!

There should be nothing at all astonishing about the Messiah's
teaching concerning "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Instead, what is
really astonishing is that more Christians have not come to see and accept this
important and very Biblical truth.